National Dialogue Town Hall Meeting
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National Partners · Preliminary
Findings · National Poverty
Facts & Figures ·
Connecticut
The National Association of Community Action Agencies (NACAA) held a successful National Dialogue Town Hall Meeting in Washington, DC on June 15, 2000. Delegates from Dialogues on Poverty held across the country shared the barriers to self-sufficiency faced by people in their state with national elected officials, members of the media, and representatives from partner agencies.
Delegates talked about what their states have done and need to do regarding the provision of good-paying jobs, affordable housing, and basic needs for low-income people.
Guest speakers commended Community Action for including low-income people in the policy debate and encouraged CAAs to continue including low-income people in advocacy efforts. Deepak Pardora of the Center for Community Change and Thomas Shelborne of the National Neighborhood Coalition stressed the importance of joining together to bring attention to low-income issues.
Everyone needs to "be at the table" when formulating policies, agreed Don Sykes of the Office of Community Services. He suggested that CAAs involve program participants in program planning, employment, and advocacy efforts.
Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota promised to be a partner to low-income Americans in the fight for equal access to education, health care, and housing.
The first panel focused on jobs and income. It was moderated by Anita Perez Ferguson, author, National Public Radio commentator, and Visiting Scholar for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation at Princeton University. Overwhelmingly, panelists and audience members agreed that people transitioning from welfare to work will only become self-sufficient if they are provided with a livable wage, health insurance, quality child care, and reliable transportation.
Delegates talked about how "out of reach" affordable, decent housing is across the country. Cushing N. Dolbeare, founder and Board Chair Emeritus of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, facilitated the housing panel. The audience was disgusted to learn that in a town in California, the lack of affordable housing forced people to pay $300 a month to live in a cave. Here in Connecticut, a studio apartment in a run-down section of Stamford costs $1600 a month. In Georgia, outreach workers found a woman and her four children living half indoors/half outdoors, in a mobile home with a tree growing through it!
The final panel, facilitated by Juan Williams, author and host of National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation, focused on measures CAAs and low-income people can take to ensure the basic needs of every American are met. Delegates agreed that CAAs, with their large scope of services, are a good way to provide services to low-income people.
Preliminary results of surveys distributed to Dialogue on Poverty participants across the country show that Americans overwhelmingly agree that everyone who can work should work; that people who work should earn sufficient income to provide for their families' basic needs; and that those who are unable to work, or who work but do not earn enough to provide for their families, should be assisted by policies and programs to meet their basic needs and secure safe and decent housing. A full report will be presented at NACAA's Annual Conference in San Antonio on September 5 - 8, 2000.
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Preliminary
Survey Findings
(as of June 15, 2000)
NATIONAL POLICY ON POVERTY
Everyone who can work should work. People who work should earn sufficient income to provide for their families' basic needs. Those who are unable to work or who work but do not earn enough to provide for their families should be assisted by policies and programs to meet their basic needs and secure safe and decent housing.
IMPROVING JOBS AND INCOME
MEETING BASIC NEEDS
PROVIDING DECENT, SAFE, AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING
National Poverty Facts & Figures
In 1998, 34.5 million people in this country were living below the Federal poverty level.
13.5 million (1 in 5) children live in poverty; 4.9 million are children under the age of 6.
A full-time, year-round worker making the Federal minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) earns $10,712 per year.
A minimum wage worker in cannot afford to pay "fair market rent" for housing in any jurisdiction in America.
The Federal government's definition of poverty in 2000 is:
Family Size Poverty Level
1
$ 8,350
2
$11,250
3
$14,150
4
$17,050
Welfare reform has reduced the number of people receiving public assistance, but many of those people have taken jobs that do not pay a living wage or provide basic benefits, such as health insurance.
More than 44 million people have no health insurance; 1 million more people lose their health insurance every year.
10 million of the uninsured are children.
ACORN
National Employment Law Project
National Head Start Association
National Low-Income Housing Coalition
Rural Community Assistance Program
AFL-CIO
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Coalition on Human Needs
Corporation for Enterprise Development
Local Initiatives Support Coalition
National Council of La Raza
National Council of Senior Citizens/National Senior Citizens Education and Resource Center
National League of Cities
National Youth Employment Coalition
RESULTS
Food Resource Action Center
Housing Assistance Council
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Association for State Community Service Programs
National Center for Child Poverty
National Community Action Foundation
National Congress for Community Economic Development
National Neighborhood Coalition
Economic Policy Institute
Center for Community Change